


Ghosts - Analogical fanfiction (Sanders Sides)

by ElSandersWrites



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - High School, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, High School, Light Angst, M/M, Not Really Character Death, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Spirits, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders, Sympathetic Sides (Sanders Sides), but idk I'm British, just cool ghosts, mentioned Homophobia, mentioned death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:26:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28877922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElSandersWrites/pseuds/ElSandersWrites
Summary: *Based off Haunted High School by ringpopprince I'm just putting my own fluffy spin*Virgil and Janus are high school students that don't believe in ghosts. Roman, Patton and Logan are ghosts trapped in their high school. What happens when their worlds collide? And where does their bully - Remus DeMort - come into this?Updates every Friday (apart from first chapter was published on a Wednesday)
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil & Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 9
Kudos: 38





	1. Handprint

**Author's Note:**

  * For [obesbones](https://archiveofourown.org/users/obesbones/gifts).



> Haunted High School is on ringpopprince's Wattpad but just thought I'd tag them on AO3 as well since I found their account - if it's a different ringpopprince then hi I guess you get a new book to read at least.

“Next rumour will be the walls started caving in or some shit…” Virgil’s friend, Janus, chuckled while eating a sandwich in the canteen. The pair of childhood friends were discussing the recent rumour going around that the recent power cut was caused by ‘paranormal activity’. The outage had only lasted around an hour which of course the high school students explained was due to ghosts rather than electricians just purely knowing how to do their job.

It was a running joke that Virgil and Janus’ high school was haunted. There were just a lot of coincidences – and there wasn’t a single logical thinker in the entire school apart from Janus and Virgil. Previous rumours had included books falling on the floor in the library (counterpoint was that gravity existed), cupcakes being stolen in the canteen (who wouldn’t steal food though was the real question) and random songs being sung in the hallway after classes (bored students do exist – doesn’t mean they’re dead). Pretty much everything that happened in the school’s four walls resorted to ghosts.

“Your eyeliner’s not straight.” Virgil heard his best friend mumble; flicking the side of Virgil’s face with a soft chuckle making Virgil give a judgemental look and roll his eyes, waiting to finish his mouthful before speaking.

“Is anything about us straight JJ?” A happy mumble came from Janus as a response while he pretended to straighten his LGBTQ+ Alliance pin. Virgil didn’t have any pride themed pins to straighten in response, Janus was a lot more confident in himself so always wore three pins on his yellow t-shirt: rainbow pin, genderqueer pin with he/him and they/them pronouns, and Head of the LGBTQ+ Alliance pin. The brightness of his clothing and his unshuttering confidence always made him stand out in crowds. Virgil, on the other hand, preferred darker colours along with his signature back eyeliner and at times black eyeshadow. He didn’t like to categorise himself into any boxes – he just didn’t find the concept of sex appealing and had a crush on Janus once in eighth grade that faded after six months or so. “You planning anything after school?” Virgil eventually said again, watching other students have their conversations in their separate friendship groups which usually left him and his friend alone.

“Oh, you know, rob a bank – kill a dude – the usual.” Janus smirked. “You?”

“Gotta get some physics homework done…” Virgil mumbled, unsure whether to himself or his friend but mainly just thinking about the questions he’d struggle with and wondering whether to do the work at home to avoid bursting into tears in the library surrounded by other students.

Virgil heard his friend chug down his drink and quickly stand. “I forgot I had a detention.” Janus stuffed a cupcake into his mouth, wrapper included, and swung his bag over his shoulder. Virgil giggled, knowing how forgetful he was at times. After Janus gave one last thumbs up he was gone, and Virgil decided to take this opportunity alone to go to the bathroom before classes.

He eventually found the closest bathroom, walking in minding his business by keeping his eyes to his feet. At least that’s what he planned to do, before realising a familiar student was hanging upside down in front of the door with his devilish grin and a confetti gun.

The confetti exploded all over Virgil before he had a chance to speak, causing only a scowl to escape. “Congratulations! You’re gay!” An acquaintance, a senior by the name of Remus DeMort, cheered as he jumped off the doorframe he was hanging from. Virgil pushed through not talking to the man. He often targeted Virgil and Janus for his pranks, they were harmless pranks but Virgil still hated them. “Is that not good news?” Remus giggled again, blowing another confetti gun just as Virgil shut the stall door. There was nothing to say definitely that Virgil was gay, he had kept his sexuality a secret for that reason, but by the power of association he was often viewed as gay to the whole school – including Remus unfortunately. Eventually Remus got bored so he left the bathroom, and Virgil finished what he needed to do. He left the stall to wash his hands, swearing at the air under his breath.

“Two fucking years until fucking college…” Virgil whispered, looking at the mirror for a moment. Then he saw it. Out of the corner of his eye was frighteningly, unexplainably a fully formed handprint. It just faded in out of no-where – and stayed there. “The f…” Virgil kept his eyes on it, turning off the tap and pausing there. “Hello?” Virgil laughed in order to not scream, bringing his hand up to touch the mirror the same way as the handprint. After a few seconds, and a long silence, he let go of the mirror and the handprint faded quicker than Virgil believed humanly possible.

The bell rang indicating class was starting. Virgil stared ahead of himself blankly, unsure of what to do. He couldn’t find any reasoning why that handprint was there. He was alone apart from Remus, and the handprint wouldn’t stay that long if Remus did it. After a few more minutes of shocked silence he decided the best action was to pick the confetti bits out of his hair and carry on with his day. Maybe he could ask his teacher about condensation next chemistry class.

*****

“You know – he was actually pretty chill.” Roman said, filing his metaphysical fingernails with his close friends beside him. “He didn’t put me in the spotlight though so – I don’t like him.”

Logan sighed, turning a page of the book he was reading while cleaning his glasses (even though the glasses were always clean as Patton reminded him, it was just a habit). Patton was too entertained with cleaning the small room the three were relaxing in to bother reminding him of that fact however. “We’re lucky no-one’s called an exorcist with the amount of attention seeking you need Ro. I’m sure he’s a perfectly rational, reasonable, living human.”

“Logan, we’re stuck in a school for the rest of eternity. We need some entertainment.” Roman moaned again, making the nailfile disappear then smirking at his book loving friend. “You’re finding entertainment by sneaking into classes you missed and stealing library books – I give you two more years before you start haunting. Pat – what’s your bet?”

“Bet for what? Cupcakes?” Patton quickly turned his head, giggling at the thought of cupcakes. After years and years Patton had still not got bored on the canteen cupcakes. Roman nodded quietly and explained the ‘bet’. “Oh, I don’t know, Logie did always like reading. And they always update the library at the end of the year.”

Roman scowled but then laughed, and Logan smiled and continued reading. He loved the peace and quiet, although he didn’t seem to get that often. He enjoyed the fact that he wasn’t alone for eternity either. “What was the name of that kid you annoyed then?” Logan could hear Patton ask again. Roman paused for a few seconds before answering.

“Virgil Church I think. He’s a Junior – so won’t know of us.”


	2. Spiritual Orb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil has to do homework in the library after school, but not everything goes at it seems.
> 
> \---------
> 
> Plus I know how unrealistic the library is just pretend it's a school with money - do American also do philosophy in school or is that a British thing?
> 
> See you next Friday!

Virgil was walking down the school corridor after classes, his hands stuffed into his pockets and his steps matching his best friend. “The handprint was just… There.” Virgil mumbled, Janus at his side and explaining the spooky happenings in the bathroom – but quietly so that other students didn’t hear. He wasn’t the type to tell everyone about the ghost and spread rumours, but he felt as though his best friend was someone he needed to confide in. “I can see why people believe in ghosts if that’s what people are seeing…”

“Or it could have just been someone using milk or something to startle you.” Janus responded, a reasonable explanation as he always did. “Just dust milk on your hand, touch the mirror, and there it will stay until someone touches it – probably. They did have those rancid milk cartons free today.”

Virgil rolled his eyes are turned to his locker, getting out a few books he was planning to revise from. He hadn’t stayed after classes to work before, he never really needed to, but this once he did and the library was almost always empty after the school day ended. Virgil could see Janus sigh and lean against the neighbouring locker out the corner of his eye. “You know what, with how pessimistic you can be – you’re surprisingly naïve.” Janus spoke gently, Virgil knew he held all the care in the world in that one statement. “Just… Don’t get caught up in all the rumours, alright bud? I won’t be able to stand you if you just become a scary story spreader.” Virgil chuckled slightly and received a punch in the arm from his best friend. The look of unlimited platonic love didn’t go away. “See you Monday.” Janus spoke quietly again, beginning to walk away.

“Enjoy robbing that bank Jan.” Virgil giggled. Janus heard and automatically did a graceful turn to shout ‘yes bitch’ down the corridor. Once his best friend had fully disappeared round the corner Virgil took a deep breath, clutching his books to his chest and shutting his locker before walking to the library.

The library was always a peaceful place. It was one of the biggest rooms in the school, almost the size of the student canteen, and was full to the brim of books. Virgil seemed to remember that it won a ‘best library in the state’ competition it was so good. No students seemed to care about it at least – the only students Virgil could spot was a group of cheerleaders loudly doing a group project and ignoring the few teachers dotted around telling them to shush.

Virgil sat at one of the work tables at the centre of the library. He had managed to complete part of his physics homework in his math lesson (the two worksheets looked so similar the teacher couldn’t tell a difference) so all he had to do was math and philosophy. He only took philosophy because it was Janus’ favourite class and he wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Mostly the work just gave him an existential crisis so he procrastinated it to the maximum.

After completing the last page of his physics homework he turned his attention to the philosophy work. ‘Religion and spirituality’… great. The last thing he needed was something else trying to persuade his life after death existed. But he knew he needed to be in the library to complete the homework. He had to reference this posh as shit philosophy textbook that was available for free in the library. Everything in the library was free to students.

“N… O… P!” Virgil whispered as he was trying to find the philosophy section. The only bad thing about having such a big school library was it was near impossible to find specific books unless you had literal eternity to read the spine of every book on every shelf. “Fuck, why isn’t philosophy here? Philosophy begins with a p right…” He whispered to himself as he looked down at the small scrap of paper he wrote the name of the textbook on, his thoughts being interrupted by the cheerleaders screaming and sudden darkness.

It was a power cut. They often happened at least once or sometimes twice a day with no reason behind them, yet they seemed to scare the student populous each time. And then the next day the school will be spreading with ghost rumours, again, like clockwork. In all reality it was probably likely the school spent so much money maintaining their impressive library they didn’t have the money to keep the lights on from 7am to 6pm. After a few seconds the lights didn’t turn on again so Virgil searched for his phone in his pocket to light the way to this damned textbook. Apart from all his pockets were empty, his phone was still in his backpack at the seat he left all his books at.

Virgil scowled at himself for probably the fifth time that day, not that that was a large amount for him. The lights still weren’t turning on, even though the school staff were heard frantically running back and forth trying their best. Virgil supposed the best thing to do was just to sit in the middle of the P corridor and wait, wishing he had some entertainment.

A small tingling was heard beside his right ear along with a swift movement, making Virgil look up from the darkness he supposed was his nails. Now he must be going insane, Virgil thought, as right in front of him was a very small blue light. It was a dark blue with a circular shape and was facing Virgil while he stared at it silently wondering if he hit his head against the bookshelf he’d stop seeing things or whether he’d stop seeing all together.

The – thing – made a tingling sound again, zooming quickly closer to Virgil’s face so it was easily in his reach. He did try to reach it, but it always seemed to escape and pre-empt his movements. Playing with the thing even managed to make Virgil smile and laugh – God, now he understood why Janus said his spirit animal was a cat.

“What are you?” Virgil whispered. He wasn’t expecting the thing to answer but it was all he could think of doing. Instead of some kind of response the light lowered towards the scrap piece of paper that held the name of the textbook. The light then made its way down the corridor slowly, stopping every few seconds until Virgil stood and followed the light.

The circle light seemed to know its way around the shelves, tingling when Virgil lost sight of it and leading Virgil around sharp corners that he wouldn’t have even thought about going through. Eventually the light paused in front of a specific shelf until Virgil caught up, then the light expanded to show the exact book Virgil was looking for. “Spirituality by T.F Sanders! Thank you… Uh, light thing?”

The light didn’t disappear, it tapped the book as if urging Virgil to open it. Virgil did just that, opened it to the contents page. The light expanded again over a particular line – making the words glow a dark luminescent blue. “Spiritual orb… Wait, so you’re a gho-“ Before Virgil could finish his sentence the light suddenly disappeared, and after a few seconds all the lights in the library turned on again.

Virgil blinked, rendered to silence again. For the second time this day. He felt like he was insane, a spiritual orb had just appeared in front of him and helped him find a textbook. A ghost helped him find a textbook – on ghosts. His life couldn’t get any more fiction if he tried.

*****

Roman had absorbed himself into the roof of the library. The cheerleaders were still panicking, a playful panicking, and screaming at each other about how the power cut was definitely a ghost. He loved haunting the cheerleaders. They were trend setters and trend starters, so the best to haunt as they’d definitely begin more ghost rumours.

He remembered how the cheerleaders used to treat him when he was alive. He loved it when they knew his name and he’d hear it across the corridor rather than just being ‘the ghost’. He remembered their useless flirts and how he just used it to gain popularity with them. He always just told them he wasn’t ready for romance, the truth was hidden – well, at least until…

“Roman?” A cough appeared beside Roman by another ghostly figure interrupting him from his thoughts. Roman raised his head with a smirk and a laugh.

“Afternoon Microsoft.” Roman gave his typical charismatic smirk but his afterlife buddy was not having it. He was floating to be level with the prankster (invisible to the library-goers, it took extra effort to be visible) and tapping his foot on the air with his arm crossed and a judgemental glance. “What? I did a power cut yesterday morning! It wasn’t even original!”

“I thought I infinity shotgunned the library. September 8th 2019.” Logan said simply. And it was true, on that exact date – as well as the date they all became ghosts, it just had to be said again a few years ago – Logan told the other two dead classmates that the library was his escapism place and his place only. That meant no pranks in the library – for eternity rather than the two years he placed the same rule on his favourite math classroom.

Roman sighed and looked back to the cheerleaders for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right Lo…” He was about to stand, until he remembered a weird event that happened while Roman was admiring the power cut chaos. “Is Patton in the library too?”

Logan tilted his head to the side with a confused expression, shaking his head.

“Weird, I saw a blue light over by the P bookshelves, couldn’t tell if it was light or dark.” Roman shrugged, and that one sentence caused Logan’s eyes to widen as he looked to the floor. Roman let a chuckle escape him watching his friend, ready to taunt his friend. “I thought you didn’t believe it was ‘right’ to haunt students.”

“I still don’t.” Logan retorted, ruffling his hair while his eyes followed to a quiet boy sat far away from the cheerleaders. Roman automatically recognised the kid as a junior named Virgil Church that he pranked at lunchtime. “That kid was sitting alone in the dark trying to find a textbook! I had to be a decent person and help him.”

“That’s Virgil Church, Micro. He definitely believes in ghosts now.” Now both boys were watching Virgil from the high distance of the ceiling. Virgil was sat in silence, flicking through the pages of the textbook and writing without looking at anyone. One thing was sure, if he did he wasn’t going to tell anyone. At least not right then.

Logan only shrugged as a response. He couldn’t explain why he wanted to help Virgil. He was just collecting some new psychology books – books he couldn’t get enough of – and then the power went out. Of course he knew it was Roman purely by the fact that he was sitting on the ceiling, glowing and laughing. He then spotted a student on the floor, looking defeated with a small piece of paper in front of him. The paper had the name of a textbook, and he knew he had to jump in.

He enabled his orb, a power he got after death of summoning a small dark blue ball close to him that was fully controllable. Each of the ghosts had unique ones. The orb allowed him to be seen and therefore help without immediately outing him as a ghost. So with the orb he helped the student find the textbook and disappeared before he could be interrogated about his ghostly power.

Overall, he didn’t particularly mind what he did. He wouldn’t do it again, that’s for sure, but just the once didn’t hurt. Roman and Logan watched Virgil work in the library until 6pm, when the teachers instructed the students to leave so the entire school could close. Then the ghosts were alone. They played soccer on the field, cleaned areas the janitor couldn’t reach, and reminded each other of when they were students at the school. It was just going to be a weekend like the ones before, and it wouldn’t change for the whole of eternity.


	3. Break In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janus and Virgil break into their high school even thought ghosts (Logan, Roman and Patton) try to scare them away.
> 
> And yes I did make Logan and Patton brothers in this AU. Logan is a year older than Patton though so they aren't twins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also - Veja sounds like another language's word for snake. If you can guess the language you're cool.

Janus lay in his bed Friday night, just reading to entertain himself and playing cultural folk songs to pass the time and make the world around him truly peaceful. It wasn’t often he had hardly any homework to do so could take a whole evening and night to relax. He took a deep breath to embrace the silence he finally had – let’s just say the Veja family weren’t the quietest. 

“JANY! VIRGIL’S AT THE DOOR TO SEE YOU!” Case and point, Janus’ mother was screaming up the stairs even though he knew she was stood just beside the staircase before answering the door. Janus took a deep breath again and put the bookmark in his book – not closing it as he knew Virgil would usually give him an opportunity to read if he asked.

Janus sprinted down the stairs immediately spotting Virgil dressed in the same outfit he wore to school that Friday, with his backpack on that presumably held all his school books as well as a black and purple duffel bag he often used to carry his things to sleepovers. Janus’ mother went back to the kitchen as soon as Janus approached his friend. Virgil looked obviously shaken up by something.

“What happened V? Did something happen at home?” Janus whispered gently, shutting the door behind Virgil as he stepped in. He was biting his lip, a nervous habit, and staring at the ground as if that was a thousand times more interesting than his concerned best friend. Virgil didn’t respond and looked towards the stairs, and Janus could read his mind automatically. “Yeah, go to my room. You need water or anything?”

Again, Virgil gave no sort of response and ran to his friend’s bedroom. Janus sighed, got a hot chocolate for both of them as it was something they both enjoyed, and also went to his room. 

There, Virgil was sat in a ball on the floor. His eyes were in deep thought staring at the yellow rug even when the drink was placed in front of him. Janus looked at the time – 6:45pm. Virgil would definitely stay for sleepover. The only thing that made Virgil move his head was when his best friend sat opposite, giving him an equally worried look. “Virgil, what happened?” Janus spoke gently.

“I actually saw a ghost.” Virgil whispered, his voice wouldn’t be heard if the two friends’ faces weren’t centimetres apart. His voice was raspy and harsh. Janus couldn’t help but chuckle and roll his eyes. “No, JJ, I did. It was a spiritual orb – in the library. Jan you have to believe me!” Virgil sounded exasperated and close to tears. Janus had no option but to sigh. 

“What did it look like?”

“It was this dark blue orb… Like a perfect circle.” Virgil said gently, still thinking. “And it made a quiet tingling sound. And it understood me – it showed me a textbook!” Virgil turned to his school bag and got out a philosophy textbook, where he had made the page crease halfway in. “Have a read. They’re a thing J! I actually saw a ghost!”

Janus opened the book at the crease, a chapter called ‘spiritual orbs’. He read what it said in silence, Virgil watched him enthusiastically, and a tiny smile finally graced his lips. It took a few minutes of silence, a silence both of them enjoyed, and Virgil got out his phone to entertain himself. Virgil’s focus on the game he was beginning to play was interrupted by his best friend’s laugh.

“Let’s break into the school to see this orb then.” Janus said sarcastically, his finger still tracing the line he was reading and he was looking at the book rather than his friend. Virgil looked at him, raised an eyebrow, and then nodded – the nod was seen out the corner of Janus’ eye making him almost flinch. “I was being sarcastic…”

“But then we could find out what that weird orb actually was – if it wasn’t a ghost. Please JJ?” Virgil had leant forward quickly and was now holding his friend’s free hand – an excited and mischievous look on his face. Janus matched the look with his signature evil smirk. “Tomorrow night?”

“Tomorrow night.”

*****

Saturday evening came around. It was 8pm, and Janus and Virgil were both dressed in all black surveying the outside of their high school. Janus had noticed several teachers kept their classroom windows open so was examining the best point of entry; Virgil was following behind keeping an eye out for any witnesses.

“Ooh Ro-Ro who are they?” Patton cheered from the school roof where he and Roman were stargazing. They had been distracted by the sound of voices, and not the usual voices they heard at the weekend. Patton therefore had to find out who the new people were so was hanging from the roof, making sure he was invisible first of course, and watching the black silhouettes. 

Roman was a bit more cautious. He sat crosslegged on the roof, also invisible, but silent. No students had ever thought of breaking into school on weekends or holidays – the ghosts scared them too much. But looking at the pair he could understand why one of them was the exception. “They’re Virgil Church and his friend Janus Veja.” Roman finally said, trying to encourage Patton back fully on the roof just in case he accidently became visible.

After a few minutes Janus found an open window, and the pair of juniors prepared to climb through. Virgil was taking deep breaths, feeling anxious now he knew he was actually trespassing into his school and might actually see a ghost again.

Once he realised Janus making steps to get through the open window Roman stood. He summoned Logan with a click of his finger, a skill he could do as a ghost, and started to shake. Logan looked unimpressed at this sudden summoning, halfway through reading a book on the theoretical ideas of triangles. “Code black – purple – yellow – whatever the colour we chose for this situation Lo. Someone’s breaking into the school! What do we do?”

Logan peered over the roof to spot the two boys, scowling quietly. He didn’t think this Virgil would be the type of person to actually break the law because of a nice favour a ghost did for him. He knew he had to haunt the pair now to get them away – even though he hated haunting. He couldn’t risk them finding out ghosts existed and calling an exterminator or an exorcist or even worse – the news reporters. This was his home.

“Police.” Logan whispered, sitting on the edge of the roof as his two friends copied. He then summoned his orb and expanded it, making it flash and pointing it towards the boys. Roman did the same with his red orb to mimic police lights. “Patton – get the small radio from Mr Oswald’s classroom and play track 23.” Patton nodded and disappeared down into the school. “Roman – once the sirens start from the radio I need you to pretend you’re a police officer.”

Roman and Logan met eyes and Roman smirked. “Sir yes sir.”

“Jan – W-what’s happening?” Virgil jumped out of his skin once the lights appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He’d checked that there were no nearby cars or people when he and his friend went to the high school. And now the police were here? Even Janus’ eyes widened as he looked around carefully. “We should go – this was a bad idea…”

Then sirens began, making Virgil’s breath quicken considerably and Janus hold his hand. “THIS IS THE POLICE – PUT YOUR HANDS UP!” A scream was heard over the sirens, a relatively young sounding voice as you’d expect a police officer to sound like a 60 year old going through half the world’s cigarettes. Both boys looked around, trying to follow the voice and raising their hands while still holding each other. “TAKE A STEP AWAY FROM THE WINDOW!” The voice shouted again, allowing them to follow where exactly the voice was located. On the roof.

“Ghost!” Janus screamed, nudging a panicked Virgil and pointing to the roof. On the roof there was a figure, in complete darkness standing and watching the boys. Not only was it absolutely impossible to get on the roof, several students had tried but it was impossible to climb, but the human figure seemed to be floating. Its head reached the roof but it was leaning against the wall, not hanging onto anything. Its feet were standing on absolutely nothing.

Virgil and Janus both kept their eyes on the figure, lowering their hands. But before they could say another word the figure was dragged away and disappeared – it was dragged upwards however unlike gravity dictated for any normal individual. Janus looked up to the roof then to the road where the police cars should be – before realising another supernatural phenomenon. “The light’s coming from the roof V…”

“Patton! Did you not know you were visible there?” Logan stabbed his words, keeping up the light show while holding the ghost that fucked up their haunting with his other hand. Patton shook his head and tried to become invisible again. He still hadn’t completely mastered his invisibility power. “You know what would have happened if they could reach you? I don’t know if they would trap you in something and hurt you…”

“Sorry bro…” Patton chirped quietly, becoming completely invisible again by calm breaths. He then leant on his older brother’s shoulder, a small smile gracing his face purely over the fact he had been noticed by a human. He had only been around Logan and Roman since he died, but he was also a social creature. An eternity doomed to a school with his slightly paranoid older brother was not a good mix for him. He’d always wished he’d be able to introduce himself to someone new again.

Logan’s scowl interrupted Patton from his dream as the three of them watched the human boys ignore the ‘police’ and enter the school through the open window. They must have just gotten used to the ghost pranks – partly due to Logan being nice to one of them which Logan would definitely blame himself for. They must just view the haunting as playful pranks rather than a scary paranormal experience.

“What do we do now Sherlock?” Roman moaned, retracting his orb at the same time as Logan and turning off the radio. Logan seemed paused in thought, one arm firmly around his brother. “To be honest – and I know you won’t like this – but how about we just let them stay overnight? That seems like their plan. We can just stay invisible and silent around them and they’ll leave thinking they had at least one encounter.” Roman ushered to Patton as he said ‘encounter’ causing Patton to hang his head in shame.

“That sounds like a great idea Roman.” Logan mumbled, causing both Roman and Patton to smile thinking they might have changed their ghastly friend’s point of view. Unfortunately, they did expect a ‘but’ added to that statement. “But let me remind you Roman, that right there was the first time any student has actually seen a ghost. Everything else has been me dropping books or Patton stealing cupcakes or you causing power cuts.”

“Or you releasing your orb to help a kid do philosophy homework.” Roman retorted, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. Logan stammered and was rendered to silence again. “That’s pretty much showing yourself. How else would someone explain a tingling blue circle that responds to what they say?”

“That’s… not a falsehood.” Logan sighed, standing and looking over to his brother. Patton was smiling widely and fidgeting excitedly. “Just promise we won’t talk to them all night?”

“We promise.” Roman and Patton said simultaneously, then giggling at each other. “Now, can you go back to reading in the library Lo?” Roman smiled, reaching out to hold Patton’s hand. “We were stargazing together.”

Logan nodded and picked up the book he was halfway through reading. He then turned to Patton and Roman, who were whispering excitedly and standing as close as they usually do. Logan loved seeing his brother happily watching the stars with – whatever Roman is to him. They hadn’t really discussed it. “Pat?” Patton turned back to his brother. “I love you to infinity. Don’t do anything stupid.”

Patton giggled. “Love you too bro – to infinity plus a million!” He laughed, hanging onto Roman slightly. Roman stuck his tongue out at Logan, stepping back from the giggling ghost beside him to turn back towards the stars. Logan smiled at that and flew back to the library, where he was going to be most of the evening.


	4. Little Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ghosts finally let their guard down slightly and decide to show Virgil and Janus all of their orbs. There's a cute Virgil/Logan moment.

“It was right here.” Virgil said to his friend, arriving at the P shelves where he had previously seen the spiritual orb. They had to walk around the school with the flashlights they packed – that they hadn’t used since summer camp in middle school. They weren’t the type to adventure in the dark apart from this time. The corridor of shelves was unfortunately completely empty. At least he didn’t have to persuade his best friend ghosts actually existed after their spooky encounter earlier – Janus was still mind-blown and trying to explain the phenomenon with the limited logic he still had to believe in but failing miserably to persuade himself.

After a few seconds of silence Virgil stepped forward alone, moving the flashlight slowly. “Hey… Spirit orb… It’s me, weird textbook kid… Where are you?” Virgil spoke gently, trying to be as quiet as possible as if he was trying to call forth a small animal. “Are you scared of the light?” Virgil asked the air again, turning off his flashlight and still calling his little light.

Janus stepped away from his crazy friend, admiring the library after dark. He did enjoy the architecture of the room – it was Victorian inspired he believed so looked very Gothic. And Janus loved all things goth and Gothic; Virgil was more emo. Gothic architecture was just so magnificent that he took any opportunity possible to marvel over it. He especially loved how, even though the library was two floors the ground floor was still visible from the second. The ground floor had desks and computers while the second had most of the books and went around the perimeter of the library. Janus hang off the edge to face the ground floor, just looking.

Everything seemed peaceful until Janus’ eyes landed on something unusual. It looked like a small blue light – stationary and beside the T shelves. “Virgil!” Janus shout-whispered to his friend. Virgil immediately appeared next to him and looked the same direction, seeing the same light Janus did.

“That’s the light!” Virgil almost screamed and immediately began running. Janus followed quietly, keeping his eyes on the dark blue light. The light was only small. Virgil remembered when he first saw the orb it was about the size on his hand, this time it seemed the size of a golf ball. “Little light! It’s me the… Oh.” The light disappeared again just as Virgil and Janus approached, leaving an open book on the floor in its place. “You have no reason to hide little light… I don’t bite.”

“Maybe don’t call it little light? It sounds kind of infantilising.” Janus mumbled as he picked up the book of the floor: The Theory of Triangles. It wasn’t a book he knew actually existed, and definitely not a book that would be picked up by a high schooler and left on the floor. 

“Um… Alright. L? Do you like that name spirit – L?”

Logan watched the book he was reading, and had to drop, be lifted from the floor by this adventurous high schooler dressed in all black. He examined the book with feigned curiosity, fiddling with the turtleneck that he had brought down from his face while he was breaking into the school. The kid next to him, Virgil, was ducking in and out of shelves calling for him to begin his aura again with one simple nickname: ‘L’. It was quite lucky he knew the first letter of Logan’s name straight away.

Logan was happy just watching the pair until they left and he could read his book again. It was like a weirdly fun game of hide and seek. That was until he looked up to the roof and spotted Roman – smiling down at the living boys not realising Logan was sat in a ball beside them. “I swear…” Logan whispered under his breath, knowing there was no reason to be quiet as the boys couldn’t hear him when he was invisible.

He watched Roman giggle under his breath, then meet eyes with Logan and smile. He was going to haunt and disregard the promise on the rooftop.

Janus’ eyes landed on a small red flame appearing beside the stairs down to the ground floor of the library. At first he thought it was an actual fire, even though that was illogical as the flame was absolutely silent. It was only until he nudged his best friend that Janus heard a noise – a soft singing voice like a siren erupting from that area of the library.

“What’s that – L?” Virgil called out, walking to the flame ahead of Janus. Janus followed more cautiously. The small flame wasn’t spreading; it was only about the shape of a candle flame. When the pair got closer they only sat down on the floor beside the small light. “I didn’t know you could change colours and sounds. That’s so cool!” Virgil was smiling at the small flame, and the flame was flying around him making the emo laugh.

Logan was in a perfect view to watch Roman play with the two boys. They didn’t seem to care they were close up with a ghost – they were just having fun. Other students weren’t like that and would be scared out of their skin at a misplaced book or half eaten cupcake. Logan would be lying if he said it wasn’t nice. It was nice to be treated like a human rather than an alien. A friend rather than a monster. It made him stand up and approach the high schoolers closer.

Janus felt a shiver down his spine for a moment, causing the red flame to pause. “Is L playing with me too?” Janus joked, trying to poke the light. Logan could hear Roman laugh from the ceiling, before hearing another more familiar and lighter giggle.

After a few minutes Virgil saw another light appear in front of him, zooming around quicker than the red light. Virgil immediately gasped and tried grabbing it – it was a light blue light, the same size as the red light, but in a heart shape. When Virgil laughed the heart laughed, and soon the two lights zoomed together around the pair. 

“Come on Logie! Join in!” Patton said, not needing to worry about his volume as he was invisible so the sound waves he omitted couldn’t reach living human ears. Logan rolled his eyes and sighed.

“You promised no haunting Pat.”

“And you promised you love me. So you’ll do anything for me right?”

Patton giggled hearing Logan’s defeated sigh. He’d take a bullet for his brother – literally. And if this made him happy, and there was no real threat as the boys didn’t seem to want to tell anyone about this experience, then he’d entertain his little brother for a little bit. He conjured his spiritual orb, the small circle dark blue light he always admired. Patton giggled and clapped his hands at the same time the high schoolers gasped, and Virgil tried reaching for his spiritual orb again.

“L! That’s the light I know you by… It’s so satisfying.” Virgil mumbled, and slowly Logan trusted Virgil to get closer to his orb, allowing him to have the orb rest on his hand. Of course this meant Logan’s ghostly hands were in line with Virgil’s. “Ugh – Your orb seems really cold L.” Virgil said in a shiver. It felt weird that someone living was actually talking to him yet wasn’t looking at him rather his small light.

“Maybe don’t ship yourself with your ghost friend just yet.” Janus laughed, receiving another shiver as he accidentally touched Patton’s orb. “It’s getting cold in here, maybe we should leave L for a bit and warm up wherever we’re going to sleep tonight?”

“Sure.” Virgil responded, dropping his hands from the orb and rubbing his hands together. That was one thing he didn’t realise he missed until Logan saw it, he missed feeling cold and hot. In these days he couldn’t feel temperature – he couldn’t feel anything. Virgil stood and stuffed his hands in his pockets, facing the three orbs that were now fading. “Bye L.” He said quietly, Janus also said goodbye and the two teenagers walked away and out of the library.

Logan kept his eyes on where the boys were, panicking slightly about whether he’d be found and bothered by more students but after a few seconds he realised he didn’t mind. It was just nice seeing people again – and them acknowledging his existence rather than him constantly having to hide and stop what he was doing when they approached. Maybe he didn’t have to worry about hiding at all around Virgil and Janus. There was just one question that needed clearing up.

“Roman?” Logan turned to Roman, who had lowered from the roof to the floor to sit with him and Patton. “What’s shipping?”


	5. NASA Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil wakes up in the middle of the night to find a cranky senior roaming the halls - not everything seems right.

As a lot of the classrooms were completely empty and barren Virgil and Janus had a large choice of where to sleep. After a few trial runs the pair decided on one of the old math classrooms, it was still in use but only for about one period per day. If Virgil’s memory suited him right it was built in the mid-2000s – so didn’t have all the software and modern teaching resources the other classrooms had.

It was the dead of night and both boys lay on the floor. Janus was in a ball, the blanket he bought covering him from head to toe and he was fast asleep. Virgil didn’t have that luxury; he was awake and thinking. He hated his thoughts. What if he got into trouble for breaking into school? He could get arrested by the police – which is bad enough – then he’ll have to explain why he broke in. He’d be called ghost-kid for the rest of eternity!

After struggling to sleep for around half an hour Virgil exhaled, stood and walked out the classroom. It was still completely dark, but all Virgil cared about was walking his stress away. 

The school was honestly scary at night. Everything was a shadow, the light rain was tapping on the windows, but apart from that everything was still. What was normally a bustling corridor with the sounds of lockers closing and students chatting and teachers shouting was now silent. Virgil felt an immense desire to tap on a locker so there was at least some sound. But the silence showed the actual architecture of the building. And by that, the walls really needed paving and repainting but everything else looked clean and furbished. He always thought the beige paint on the walls was way too boring compared to the colourful classrooms. But as Virgil was walking he realised how much he enjoyed the alone time, and everything was peaceful.

That was until he saw a figure just outside of the classroom he was sleeping in. He stayed away, watching the figure slowly move. It was sat against the wall with a book resting on their lap. The person looked peaceful, not worrying if someone saw him, just calmly reading alone in the pitch black. Virgil carried on walking, towards the person but looking away from them in case they were shy or aggressive. 

The person suddenly stood up as Virgil turned his head away, gasping and flinching as though he’d never seen another human before. The sudden noise made Virgil also jump and turn back towards the person, smiling softly. “Hey, I don’t bite.” Virgil laughed.

The person nodded, the moonlight out of a near window framing their face. “Yes, of course.” The person, a boy, whispered looking up from his book and into Virgil’s eyes. Virgil didn’t know the boy from school, such a distinctive look – and by that Virgil meant he looked quite attractive – with sharp cheekbones, small black glasses and almost black hair covering half of one eye, along with a NASA hoodie, black ripped jeans and black sneakers. Well, everything looked black seeming the pair were in complete darkness so seeing colour was impossible. Virgil realised he was staring after a minute and looked down, swaying side to side in front of the new person.

“Um… So what are you doing here?” Virgil managed to mumble without turning red, giving the boy opposite him a small smirk while he glanced confused.

“I could say the same to you.” He attacked back, his glance becoming a glare as he held his book to his chest. “You could get into trouble for breaking into school property.” The person said, their voice gentle but trying to sound more aggressive by his tone.

Virgil didn’t feel like arguing, so he just ducked his head again and took a deep breath. “I’m Virgil, you?” Virgil said sweetly, or at least as sweet as he could manage. He hated acting sweet – especially to people who decide to hate him off the bat for whatever stupid reason.

“Why do you want to know?” The person attacked again, making Virgil sigh and close his eyes for a second so he didn’t let any anger escape him. The stranger started to turn and walk away, but Virgil decided to follow. If the person was going to be aggressive for no real reason, then Virgil was going to be annoying for no real reason. This was payback. 

“Oh come on, I’m breaking the law here too I won’t tell anyone you’re in here. I just want to know your first name.” Virgil demanded. The stranger turned back around quickly to face him with a bored expression. 

“Logan.” The person said quietly, and as if he could tell the next question forming in his mind he spoke again. “I’m a senior – and I’m new to the school. That’s why you don’t know me. Now can I please go?” The last sentence was said sweetly, with a tilt of the head and a fake smile. Virgil crossed his arms, rolled his eyes and scowled. “Delightful. Good night.” Logan turned again and began walking away. At first Virgil just watched him walk away, then began to follow in small steps. He seemed to be walking at a quick pace, trying to get away, but Virgil hadn’t finished his payback.

Just as the person turned the corner a small red light showed, L’s light, making Virgil stop and smile. The person didn’t seem to appear again or care as Virgil approached the light and called it as if it were a cat, then began playing with it and chasing it down the corridor. The light stopped just outside the classroom Janus was sleeping in, bumping against the door. Virgil said goodbye to the light – as insane as that sounded - and went back into the classroom to sleep. Logan still played on his mind, maybe they’d meet again during school hours and the NASA nerd wouldn’t be too cranky.

*****

Logan absorbed himself through the door with a growl, immediately spotting Roman also entering the small closet he was hiding in and trying to silence a giggle. “I saved your ass there Lo, that kid would follow you around the school if he wasn’t attracted to a moving light like a – cat…” Roman giggled. Logan sat on the floor and opened his book again.

“We are never allowing any students to break into school again. This is ridiculous.” Logan sighed. Usually he didn’t have to worry about being visible on the weekends or after classes. It took a lot of concentration to not be visible to living beings, and Logan did not have the energy or the want to concentrate when he was reading a good book. Having a human in the school was a major inconvenience.

“Well, I think he’s fun.” Roman laughed, brushing a hand through his hair and landing on a small cleaning products shelf. “Plus, you two had that bonding moment earlier! Maybe you can have like a Romeo and Juliet situation – or Hamlet – Which one’s Lion King again?”

Logan decided to ignore his friend, reading. He didn’t want to think about this Virgil Church. So far he was just an annoying student that ruined his weekend. Sure – he had literal eternity to spend good weekends reading and relaxing but Virgil ruined just this one. Hopefully after this weekend Virgil would just disappear from Logan’s life and he could just live out the rest of eternity peacefully in his library.


	6. The DeMorts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janus takes a bathroom break in English class and meets one of the ghosts again. They also discover there's more to his high school bully than previously thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Janus uses they/them pronouns this chapter because they're valid - tell me if I make any mistakes and I'll correct it.

Janus stretched, walking out of their English classroom and into the corridor, clutching their bathroom pass to their chest. They didn’t need to use the bathroom, just needed a break. There was only so much Shakespeare references a person can take in an hour. Why was that random British playwright so influential? Janus didn’t know – and Janus didn’t care. All they cared about right now was entering the unisex bathroom and turning on their phone to listen to some music in a peaceful silence.

They entered the bathroom, washing their hands to listen out for any witnesses to them skipping class. There was no-one luckily. The silence let Janus sigh, bringing out their earphones and sitting next to the sink – turning on Spotify and fully relaxing. The whole world disappeared around them and became the world of artistic lyrics and metaphors. They wanted to keep their eyes open to check if anyone walked in but their eyes were also too exhausted to stay open for this relaxing time.

That was until they heard a knock right beside his head, opening their eyes and instinctively leaning their head forward in case they were the cause of that noise. They were surprised though. “Oh, hey L.” Janus laughed watching the small light blue heart float around them and knock itself against the wall again. “You won’t tell on me for skipping will you?” Janus joked, mainly to themselves as they didn’t actually expect the light to respond.

“Of course not kiddo! Just remember you fully live through high school once!”

Janus leaped off the sink counters and stepped back from their light friend. “The fuck?” They almost screamed, putting a hand in front of their head to protect themselves. The light didn’t speak again and did the beckoning giggle noise the heart usually does. They raised an eyebrow. “You talk?” Janus said only in a whisper, looking over their shoulder to make sure they were again alone in the bathroom – which they were.

“Yeah!” Then, before Janus could even process the voice, a cloud appeared out of nowhere and began to gather in front of them. The cloud first gathered to show a pair of wide round glasses hiding large eyes, freckles covering the entirety of this new face and body, the cloud wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts. The cloud became a person, but still stayed black and white. The person was smiling wide not particularly caring that Janus was scared out of their skin. “And you’re Janus Veja right? It’s great to finally actually meet you!”

“Uh… You too I guess.” Janus awkwardly laughed, reaching out their hand as an instinct. At this point encountering ghosts was considered a slightly normal past-time for them. The person reached his hand forward and grabbed the hand, but the hand flew through Janus’ quickly giving them a brief, cold shock. “So you’re L the ghost?”

“Well, yes, but also no.” The ghost chirped, looking to the side for a moment. He flicked his hand, starting the light blue heart to glow and move again from side to side. “I cause this light – but there’s two other ghosts that cause their own lights.”

Janus had to double take for a minute to check they heard that right. Three ghosts – in their high school? There was only never rumour of one – the ghost. And now, as they thought they’re talking to the one – which made them feel insane anyway – there was apparently three. “What are their names?” Janus said carefully and gently, wondering if they were going to overstep the boundary and the ghost would disappear again.

“Hm, well I’m Patton Aristotle, then there’s Logan Aristotle and Roman DeMort.” Patton smiled, sitting on the sink with a wide smile and kicking his legs back and forth. Janus furrowed their eyebrows again, gathering that the surname DeMort seemed weirdly familiar. 

The door opened and Janus flinched, quickly turning the sink tap on to look busy in case a teacher was summoned to return them back to lesson. The cloud that was the ghost – Patton they should call him – dispersed within a second as Janus saw another student walk in. It wasn’t just any student though. “Ah, good morning Mr Gay. Figured out how to suck a dick yet?” Remus cackled, going into a stall only for a few minutes.

“Hm – no – you always seem so intrigued by it. Are you up for it?” Janus responded, they knew that sentence would fill Remus with embarrassment as he hated when the treatment he gave to Janus and Virgil was spun back to him. Remus didn’t respond until he left the stall, washing his hands (which surprised Janus – they thought Remus wouldn’t comply with that common courtesy). “What are you doing out of class Ratman?” 

“None of your business Snake.” Remus growled, more offended than usual while biting his lip and looking at his wet hands. Janus laughed softly and smirked, but before they could ask another question Remus stormed out the bathroom still with wet hands. Janus was drying their hands as Remus walked out – but the voice inside of them was saying that Remus wasn’t just heading back to class. Patton didn’t return or at least make himself visible again, so Janus left the bathroom and followed in Remus’ direction – silent and watching him.

Remus walked down the corridor in silence, his hand stuffed in a ripped and graphic hoodie and his sneakers squeaking against the floor. He walked for a while, so much that Janus wondered if Remus was just going to leave the school. But he didn’t – he just stopped at the corner of the hallway where no classrooms could see him. He sat at the corner, his frown becoming a smile as he leant back and whispered to himself.

Then the red flame light appeared just in front of Remus. He smiled and continued whispering, possibly even having a small conversation with the light. So he knew about the ghosts too? Did he know there were three of them? Was this particular light Logan or Roman?

Logan Aristotle and Roman DeMort. Wait – what was Remus’ surname again? Remus… DeMort. He knew the ghost! “What are you doing Snake?” Remus’ voice immediately piped up dragging Janus out of their epiphany while the red light beside him disappeared. “Go back to class! You’re acting like I’m gay or something!”

“Hey, hey, calm down. I just didn’t know you knew the ghosts too.”

“Just shut up and leave! I don’t want to suck your dick!” Remus screamed again, backing against the wall like a petrified animal. Janus took a deep breath again and walked closer. Once Janus came closer the red flame appeared again, along with the light blue heart that had decided to lay a centimetre or two above Janus’ shoulder. Remus’ glance changed to confusion for a minute realising how close the orb was to Janus. “Patton’s happy to talk to anyone dickhead. Doesn’t entitle you to anything.”

Janus decided it was best to just sit beside Remus in silence. It was quiet, away from the buzz of the classrooms where it was just them, their bully and the ghosts. Remus kept his eyes away from them again, instead looking at the red flame with a look of familiarity and comfort. “Hey… Remus?” Janus eventually managed to pipe up, but Remus didn’t dare look at them or change his comforted glance. “Is that Roman DeMort?” Janus also kept their eyes on the flame. The flame paused as soon as that question was uttered.

Remus nodded. Then the mysterious smoke appeared again where the red flame stood, gathering slowly and cautiously while Remus surveyed the area. “You’re safe right now…” Remus whispered, his eyes landing on the cloud that eventually formed eyes, hair, ears, and black and white clothes. The outfit was also simple like Patton’s – a greyed sports jersey with distressed ripped jeans. His hair was windswept to the side and slightly wavy, and almost reaching his shoulders. Remus’ small smile became wider as the ghost fully took form. 

“Nice to meet you lovelies.” Roman chuckled, putting his knee up and resting his elbow against it to look nonchalant. Patton also began to appear, smiling next to Roman and watching Remus’ soft expression. The look seemed like a look you’d give a family member rather than a random ghost you had gotten a platonic appreciation for in school.

“Is… Roman your Dad?” Janus turned to Remus, an eyebrow raised. Remus scoffed and glared while Roman burst out laughing, his mouth quickly covered by Patton so that his laughter wasn’t erupting through the entire school.

“He’s my brother dipshit! Why would this be my Dad?” Remus pointed at the squirming ghost, playfully swatting at Patton and getting a kick out of Janus’ confusion. Roman looked a lot younger than Remus, but Janus didn’t know whether that was due to age or personality or magical ghost powers. The ghost also seemed a lot happier than his brother even though he was dead. It was surprising. “He’s my older brother, well, he’s not grown any older.”

Roman leaned towards Remus with a wide smile while Remus crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, as if expecting what Roman was going to say. “Haha! You’re old now Re! How’s senior year? You need to go to a retirement home yet?”

The taunting didn’t seem to annoy Remus for long. His expression immediately softened as Roman tried, and failed, to lean on his brother’s shoulder. Usually a ghost going through you would cause an immense cold – a need to shiver and curl up for the second it lasts – but for Remus he seemed to relax at the temperature change and smile. Janus had never seen Remus honestly smile at all through high school, and they were in their junior year while Remus was a senior.

“So…” Janus broke the silence turning to Roman, and therefore Patton who sat beside him. “I don’t know how sensitive I have to be about all this but – when did you die? And Logan too – did you all die together? Are you the same age?”

The questions caused Roman and Patton to both frown, turning their heads to Remus slightly. Remus’ expression went from content to anger. “You don’t have to answer! It was just something that came into my head…”

“Well… We aren’t all the same age technically.” Patton eventually chirped, the opening up so slow that if it were an old door any movement would make it creak. “Roman and I are both Juniors. Logan’s a Senior – and my brother, but we all knew each other in high school. It all happened at once.” He could tell that Patton was getting upset talking about such a sensitive subject. Roman, who was the only person able to touch him, placed an arm around the usually cheery ghost. “And about our dea…”

Patton wasn’t be able to finish his sentence before a dark blue circle appeared in front of them. Roman rolled his eyes and scowled. “Lo it’s just my brother, stop being paranoid.”

The light tingled as if arguing back, then floated towards Janus and stayed beside him. “Oh as if he doesn’t know we exist.” Roman then responded, causing a smirk to appear but only for a second. Janus couldn’t see the human version of Logan but they could tell he was glaring angrily. Roman ignored the light after a few minutes and continued whatever conversation he was having with his brother before Janus disturbed. Patton watched Logan’s light in silence, refusing to continue his sentence. 

“Logan, I was careful.” Patton whispered gently. Logan’s orb tingled again. “No, I won’t tell them anymore.” Patton said finally, then smiled at Janus. “Sorry…”

“Hey, no need to apologise. I know siblings can be protective.” Janus responded equally as kindly. Patton smiled softly and rolled his eyes at his brother’s light. After a tut he stood, tapping Roman on the shoulder and walking away. Roman seemed to easily understand what Patton was saying and followed, and Logan’s light disappeared. Both Janus and Remus let out a quiet breath, Janus smiling at Remus and he smiled back.

The classes started to end and students filtered out the classrooms, some looking over to Janus and Remus who – to them – were sat in the middle of the corridor right beside a blind spot to the classrooms and staring at each other. Remus’ expression hardened spotting the other students, and he stood quickly. “Don’t think we’re friends after this, gay boy.”


	7. "I prefer Logan..."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan has enough of Roman and Patton revealing themselves to the alive humans curious about them, so decides to nip the curiosity of the person who started it - Virgil Church's - in the bud.
> 
> TW - Slight mention of homophobia again. Not too big though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes I know 2014 wasn't that long ago, I just didn't want the ghosts to be too old.

It was 6am, the time the ghosts prepared themselves for the school day. Students didn’t arrive for another half hour at the earliest but teachers arrived quite a lot earlier. And teachers were more dangerous; they had no-one to gossip to about ghastly encounters apart from news reporters. Other teachers would judge them too much if they just kept the gossip amongst themselves. 

Of course usually this particular time wasn’t that important to the ghosts. Before, they were always hidden. Now though, unfortunately for Logan, his ghostmates were more rebellious. They weren’t just showing their orbs anymore (which he knew was his fault – damn his niceness wanting to help a struggling student) but they were showing themselves. Sure, Logan also did that, but accidentally. And he lied about being alive. But now he was pacing back and forth in the janitor closet, as it was still locked, trying to think of some solution.

When he thought of the solution he stopped, summoning Patton and Roman into the closet with his permanent unamused glare. Patton was stuffing his face with cupcakes and Roman had balanced a chef’s hat to float above his head. It was a normal school morning for the pair of them, messing around in the kitchen until just before lunch when the cooks arrived. Roman rolled his eyes and tilted his head, also grabbing a cupcake from Patton’s hands. Patton mumbled an argument through his full mouth.

“We need to change our plan today.” Logan said sternly. Both ghosts looked at him confused. “We’re staying in the closet today.”

“We’re what?” Roman’s eyes widened, swallowing his cupcake quickly. Patton just watched confused. “You can’t do that! We’ll just walk out.”

“And I’ll summon you back.” Logan smirked in response, grabbing a book that he hid behind some cleaning products. “I’m not allowing you to play around with Virgil Church and Janus Veja again. It could get us into serious trouble.” Logan sat on the floor, opening his book to the first page. It was Dante’s Inferno – so would probably take the school day to finish and if it didn’t he had brought extras.

Roman scowled and sat on a top shelf, ruffling his hair and looking at nothing. Patton finished eating the cupcakes he stole in silence while he stood in the middle of the small room, then sat beside Logan and put his head on the other’s shoulder. Logan smiled softly and ruffled his brother’s hair. “You want a book bro?” He said gently. Patton shook his head, making Logan sigh. “I’m keeping you safe Pat.”

“You’re over-reacting…” Patton said simply, looking at his brother for a moment, a pleading look in his eyes. Logan slammed his book shut and sighed again. He leaned back and closed his eyes to expand the silence – Patton also stayed silent but looked at his brother with a look of hope. “I know you’re keeping us safe - and I’m thankful – but I promise Janus and Virgil won’t tell anyone anything. I can protect myself!”

Logan opened his eyes and looked around, including at Roman who was levitating a bottle of bleach up and down only paying attention to his own thoughts. Eventually he stood up and cleared his throat, causing Roman to look over with the most bored expression he had ever put on. “Can you two go get Janus Veja for me? I need to talk to both Janus and Virgil.” Then Logan walked out calmly, holding his hands behind his back. After he left Patton and Roman glanced at each other for a few seconds, before Patton began to step forward to walk through the closet door.

“Hey, we don’t need to get Janus.” Roman laughed, tugging Patton’s t-shirt with a mischievous smile. “Logan needs to face his anxiety and confront a living human that he hasn’t properly ‘met’.” Roman smirked, standing beside his ghost friend and putting an arm around him. “How about we find those blueberry muffins?”

That question didn’t need to be answered directly. Patton giggled, rubbing his hand against Roman’s (they’d tried holding hands before – it just didn’t feel right seeming the circumstances of why they were who they were) and smiling wide. The two ran out of the closet quickly and back to the kitchen to eat as many cupcakes as they could before school began.

*****

Logan lingered at the front of the school, looking around for Virgil Church. He was unsure whether Virgil and Janus entered school together, he hoped so as he didn’t trust Roman to actually go through with the favour. Once he had the two gathered together he would take them to an empty room, lock the doors and appear. There he’d tell them to leave all the ghosts alone and act all ghostbusters with telepathically demanding more and more from the spirits. He didn’t know what kind of magic they were doing on them, but it was working and it was supernatural.

Unfortunately Janus and Virgil weren’t together. Virgil was walking into the school behind the crowd, wearing large purple headphones and covering himself in a large black hoodie. He looked weirdly peaceful, although being what Logan would imagine to be the personification of sadness. Not that he was sad, he seemed pretty happy being himself – as weird as himself was. Logan wished he was like that in his life.

Once he knew no-one would pay attention to Virgil Logan made his orb appear, trying to make it shine brighter and following Virgil’s steps. Virgil soon recognised him and smiled, keeping his eyes on the light and trying to follow it slightly. He was then guided through the door, across the corridors that Logan knew no-one walked and into the dimmest part of the library.

Virgil looked around the part of the library no student went to – dated encyclopaedias. He honestly didn’t know such a section existed but here he was – surrounded by 1980s encyclopaedias and facing a small blue light. For a few minutes that’s all he did, there was silence and the light wasn’t moving. After what seemed like forever Virgil had to speak up. “Um – Are you wanting Janus too? They only really come to school when lessons start.”

Of course the orb didn’t properly respond, but instead flew forward quickly, and then flew back behind a shelf. “L? Where are you going?” Virgil tried to follow, but the light disappeared so he lost track of the ghost quickly. This left Virgil standing alone in the darkness again, feeling like a child that was left without his nightlight, just waiting. 

“It’s a shame the lighting doesn’t work here.” A calm voice said dragging him out of his nyctophobia. The first thing he had to assume was it was another student that needed to study alone for some reason in the pitch black. He couldn’t shake the feeling he recognised the voice.

“Uh, yeah. Sorry for disturbing you.” Virgil nodded in every direction he could think – not knowing exactly where the studying student was – as he backed away. He then heard a book slam shut and the voice spoke again.

“Why are you here?” The darkness said again, not necessarily angrily but it still made Virgil pause. He really didn’t want to spread ghost rumours – but what if the student saw L? Then it would be obvious he’s lying and he’d be asked about it and then it would be awkward. Still, after a few minutes of debating with himself he decided that the ghost’s right to secrecy was more important than his awkwardness.

“Oh – uh – I was looking for a book on… Cognitive distortions.”

“Hm… Interesting.” And all of a sudden L appeared again in front of Virgil’s eyes, but just behind the light was a silhouette – and a silhouette Virgil recognised. It was NASA nerd, dressed in the exact same clothes that he wore the weekend they first met. His face was smirking mischievously but became more earnest within a second. “Thank you for keeping the ghosts a secret.”

Virgil scoffed and laughed. “Weird new boy knows about the ghosts. That’s new.” NASA nerd paused, tilting his head before the orb flickered off again. The light appeared a few seconds later, bouncing between what looked like to be the nerd’s hands. The hands had no colour to them though, they seemed to look a light translucent grey. “Wait… Are you L?” 

The NASA nerd nodded. “I prefer Logan.”

Virgil nodded again quickly, his mind racing. He had a ghost in front of him seeming perfectly relaxed and juggling his spirit for some entertainment. He wasn’t just experiencing weird illogical lights and handprints – there was a ghost. The only thing he could think of doing was staring at the boy in front of him, wide-eyed, and not daring to utter a word in case the ghost would become angry and haunt him.

“You’re a ghost?” Virgil said the only sentence that went through his head. Repeatedly. Logan only chuckled.

“Yes I am. And again, thank you for not telling anyone about your ghostly experiences. Well, Janus doesn’t count I suppose.” Logan spoke gently, ducking his head slightly to look at the alive human. “So, I thought the best option was to give you permission to ask me anything. Therefore you won’t intentionally bother us again. Agreed?” When they met eyes Virgil could properly examine these new features. He was completely grey – to start off with – so there weren’t any colours to analyse. His glasses were thick and definitely black, his eyes a dark grey that stuck out against his almost white skin that held wrinkles across his laugh lines and the possibility of some faint freckles were dotted just under his eyes. His entire look seemed ancient even though parts of him seemed like any other high schooler. 

“How… How old are you?” Virgil whispered, distracting Logan from his orb for a moment. He didn’t want to say he looked 40, but he did. Was he a teacher or a student? He seemed like a mix of both and Virgil didn’t exactly know what to feel about it.

“18. Well, I died January 2014 so… 25 now?” Logan laughed. “I still think I’m 18. I haven’t properly experienced anything past that.”

“Is it just you?”

Logan shook his head. “My little brother and his… friend are here too. They’re called Patton and Roman respectively. And they’re 16 and almost 17, before you ask.” Logan couldn’t help smiling wide, rehearsing the amount of times Roman hated being called a ’16 year old’ so had decided to become ‘almost 17’ when he realised he wouldn’t age for eternity. Virgil’s eyes widened, trying to calculate everything through in his head. Virgil was the definition of living, always thinking and listening and emotions flowing through his blood – mostly shock and excitement at this time. Logan just felt nothing – as he always did.

“Where do you all go during the school day?”

“We hide in the closet next to the theatre.”

Without any reason that Logan could tell Virgil burst out laughing. Logan looked side to side and then raised an eyebrow, thinking maybe Janus had appeared behind him and said something funny. Or anyone else for that matter, although he tried to be in a place that everyone would avoid. “What’s so funny?” Logan asked, a smile coming on his lips again. God he missed having a normal conversation with someone – although was anything he did normal?

“Don’t worry, gay joke. I speak fluent seeming I’m gay myself.” Virgil shook his head as the laughter died down, looking away from Logan for only the second time. But instead of a smile Logan looked confused, he was really out of date with the jokes, even in the 2010s. “Wait, were gay jokes a thing in 2014?”

“Gay… Wasn’t a thing in 2014.” Virgil immediately silenced. Logan tried to meet his eyes again, but it failed. He then looked away, to the side and analysed the books he could make out on the shelves. He had officially ended a conversation with his usual insensitivity. The school bell rang just as the library lit up, making Logan disappear within the second. Virgil finally looked in Logan’s direction and seemed surprised, then smiled – a fake and uncomfortable smile – before turning his back and walking down the corridor. Logan lit his orb as a last goodbye, making Virgil look back and sigh, before he disappeared to continue his school day.


	8. Fell A-Doting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman reads a poem to Patton and has a gay panic (I don't think there's a trigger warning but say if there is)
> 
> Also for context Sonnet 20 by William Shakespeare is called the 'gay poem' - it's the most well known love poem he wrote that's addressed to a man (look up a summary if you don't understand the context it's a really cute poem anyway)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is lowkey my favourite chapter so far it's so cute XD

Patton and Roman sat in the dark closet, Patton leaning on Roman’s shoulder as he searched through all of Logan’s ‘lame’ books. “The Great Works of Shakespeare!” Roman said dramatically, chuckling to himself and butting heads with Patton for a second. “Lo’s such a nerd…”

“But we love him.” Patton softly responded, and Roman shrugged. Patton did have an eternal love for his older brother, and one that Roman would never understand even though he had a brother himself. He supposed it was because Remus was just becoming an annoying middle schooler when Roman died so he never got a chance to know him beforehand. “I love him.”

Roman noticed his lips trace ‘and I love you’. It just felt like some natural rhythm, a native instinct, something that needed to be said. Instead it was silence. Roman looked ahead of him and then down, quickly grabbing another book to move the conversation and stop his mind from thinking about it.

“Can you read one of Shakespeare’s poems? I remember you were always so good at reading in front of the class!” Roman had to stop himself from glaring at his friend, his cheeks heating to a faint pink which he luckily hid by the book in his hands he decided to open. “I remember you used to stand in front of the class and make the poems into real life! You really put a spell on me – Please Roman?”

Roman rolled his eyes, standing up just as he used to do when Patton and he shared an English class, and opening the book to a random page. Sonnet 20 by none other than William Shakespeare himself.

“A woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted  
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion;  
A woman’s gentle heart, but not acquainted  
With shifting change, as is false women’s fashion;  
An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,  
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;  
A man in hue, all “hues” in his controlling,  
Which steals men’s eyes and women’s souls amazeth.”

Roman paused looking at the following verse. This wasn’t a poem he had read before, but Patton seemed as happy to listen to Roman as if he had rehearsed the short love poem for the almost-17 years of his life. If Logan was here he’d mention how he would struggle with such complex vocabulary if it wasn’t in such a beautiful rhythm. Everything seemed to flow and seem right when Patton looked at him.

“And for a woman wert thou first created;  
Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,  
And by addition me of thee defeated,  
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.  
But since she prick’d thee out for women’s pleasure,  
Mine be thy love and thy love’s use their treasure.”

Patton’s eyes were such a bright blue, such a colour could never be forgotten even when they’re greyed out. They were always so wide and happy in every situation, from a boring math lesson to when he was going to support Roman in his leading role in the musical when…

“I’m back.” Logan appeared through the door holding even more books under his arm. He ruffled his hair and placed the books down in his disturbed pile he always kept in the closet. He realised the mess his neatly made pile had become straight away by the two other ghosts in the room. He then realised Roman holding a large book of definitely love poems. “Was I disturbing something?”

“No, no, nothing.” Roman laughed, more nervous than Logan had ever heard him, quickly closing the book and handing it back to Logan to order the way he liked to order all his stolen books. “We were just playing around…” Roman ushered to Patton, who was sat in a ball with an equally pink blush on his face. Logan was definitely disturbing something. He turned to Roman.

“Did you think about January?”

That question held a lot of meaning for the three of them, and it meant a very specific feeling – that only Roman really acknowledged – that caused their death. Roman nodded. He was the one who mostly thought about ‘January’ – about the feelings he felt then and who he wanted to give his heart to before it tragically stopped beating. Patton Aristotle.

Logan sighed, making his way to sit with his little brother and wrap a protective arm around him. Deep inside Roman hated when he did that. Why was it acceptable for Logan to do that with his little brother but not for Roman to do that to the person that made him feel – feelings? Feelings he knew he could never feel for a girl even though everyone expected him to, and it's not like he had a chance to change that now. His feelings were dedicated to Patton, his mind held a shrine for him, he just wished he could be with him like normal people could.

“Roman, take a walk.” Logan said sternly but gently, in the true caring way he did. He had no power to disagree as he was tearing up in front of the pair so nodded, made himself invisible and disappeared to any random point in the school. His emotions made him not fit to spend time with Patton now.

After a few minutes of silence Patton spoke cheerily. “What books did you get from the library Logie? Oh – and how was your meeting with Virgil too?” Logan could never stop smiling at his brother’s voice, he was just so unbelievably happy when he spoke.

“The meeting was good.” Patton noticed his brother’s little smile on that last word, ruffling his hair again and pulling at the strands to look up at the ceiling. The smile was rare though not impossible; he wouldn’t dare tell Logan about the other times he’d noticed that smile. “And the books are research on biology and human… behaviour.”

Patton noticed the pause too as he reached over to grab a book. He loved reading with his brother, he didn’t understand the words or concepts a lot of the time but his older brother was always there to explain and he loved seeing his brother get happy and excited over something. Even something as small as the life cycle of ants would entertain the pair for an hour. He stopped what he was doing reading the titles on this new collection: A meta-analysis of Homosexuality, Science and Homosexuality, Social Construction of Homosexuality. Had he realised what Patton had assumed since he knew there was more way of love?

“What’s with the smi… Oh.” Patton was practically jumping where he sat, his smile wide, his greyed eyes glowing. Logan held the opposite expression with a neutral raised eyebrow and awkward smirk showing his canine tooth. “It’s not what you think. I’m not…” Patton was a volcano almost exploding with excitement. “No, Pat, Virgil is. I want to make sure I’m not… offensive.” The excitement immediately died down, leaving Patton to tilt his head and give puppy eyes. “I just know I can be a bit insensitive sometimes and I want to avoid that. So I’m going to read modern research on the matter.”

Of course Logan knew whether his brother understood what he was saying or not it would end the exact same way, a hug. Patton wrapped his arms above Logan’s shoulder while Logan’s arms were wrapped around his brother’s waist, being the one responsible with keeping them balanced. He let a laugh loose, squeezing his brother tighter only for a second. He loved spending eternity with him.


End file.
